Udaipur : A typical modern day tribal youth loves sun glasses, wears a colourful kurta and carries a mobile always in his hand. This fictional delegate, ‘ Gotiyo’ hence seems to be a real life character who is gaining wide popularity among the tribal population in Banswara district these days. Not only the rural people but even in the city area, people are finding fun in clicking selfies with Gotiyo and reading out his satirical messages on voting.

Gotiyo is the brainchild of the district administration and has been specially designed and created for increasing awareness among the voters by educating them to cast their votes correctly. ” Nothing is more integral to democracy than voting and the voters should be educated to exercise their power fairly. Gotiyo literally meaning ‘ friend’ like a true companion is advising people to participate in the largest festival of democracy, informs Kamlesh Sharma Deputy Director , Department of Public Relation, Banswara.

The cartoon character has been designed by a budding cartoonist of the city Ashish Sharma who gave a modern look to the desi character with a cooling glass on his smiling face , a bright red turban and yellow Kurta with white dhoti. More than 5000 Gotiyo stickers have been issued which has been pasted on public transport vehicles as well as roadways buses. The character’s cut outs have been put up at various junctions and prime circles in and around the city with messages on fair voting and understanding the EVMs and VVPAT mechanism.

A selfie point also has been set up at the collectorate premises where the common public is being encourages to click selfies with Gotiyo and post over the social medias to spread the message. Gotiyo’s messages have been taken out in a series called ‘Aye Hamro’ which means ‘ Hey, listen ‘ where Gotiyo advices people not to sell their votes in lieu of alcohol or money temptation. ” On the voting day, men dressed up as Gotiyo would be made to stand outside each Adarsh matdaan kendra to encourage and attract people to cast their votes” Sharma informed.